Hello, Constant Readers! I'm disappointed in myself. Persona 5 has been out for months and I'm only just doing a story on it. The main reason was that I couldn't come up with a pairing that I liked 100%, but that problem has just been solved minutes before I started writing this AN. I'd also like to take a brief moment to apologise to ShadowUzumaki55 – this kind of is and kind of isn't the story you've been giving me ideas for. It kind of is in that it's set in the same universe as my story Supernatural Serial Killers … Why Not? and kind of isn't because it's a different pairing from the one you suggested and the OC's disability is different from the one we discussed. Those ideas will be put to good use in a future Persona 5 story, rest assured, it's just not this one.

Yes, I said this is set in the same version of the Persona universe as my story Supernatural Serial Killers … Why Not? As is my Persona 3 story when I eventually release the bloody thing. In fact, when I get far enough into SSK…WN?, you're going to be seeing my OC from this story turning up for a brief period of time with one very noticeable difference to his character.

The main pairing for this story is going to be OC/Ann. I really don't know what to do about the other pairings – Akira is going to be getting with either Makoto or Futaba, though I'm not sure which. I really don't know about anybody else, so if you could give me some suggestions with your reviews, that would be most helpful.

Welcome to How to Steal Hearts!

"Persona!" – Normal Speech

Persona! – Thoughts

"Persona!" – Writing

[Persona!] – Sign Language

{Persona!} - Phone

"Persona!" – Shadows

"Persona!" - Personas

Let's begin.

Monday, 11 April 2016

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

SLAM!

CLICK!

I sighed and smacked my lips together as the satisfaction of shutting up that infernal alarm clock washed over me. As I laid there in bed, it occurred to me that I really didn't want to go to school, just as it occurred to me every morning. And just like every other morning, I got up, anyway. I had to. If I didn't, there would be hell to pay. There would probably be hell to pay when I got into school, too, but at least that was the kind I could come home and get away from.

I took my uniform for Shujin Academy out of my closet and laid it out neatly on the bed, which wasn't looking so neat at this point. I didn't care.

I went into the bathroom and had a shower. The steaming hot water felt wonderful.

I wiped away the fog from the bathroom mirror so I could get a look at myself while I brushed my teeth. My skin was lightly tanned. I had mid-length, straight, pastel turquoise hair, and average-sized, dusty orange eyes. I had a pretty average body, as things went, though I was a bit on the skinnier side. As I stood in front of the mirror naked, I couldn't help but glance down at my throat – another thing I did every morning. There were no scars, as I had suspected there would be when the damage was initially done, but there was still a deformed look about the front of my neck, like a slight inward curve that you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for it.

I fought the urge to rub at the spot and instead continued to brush my teeth.

Then I walked back into my room and put on my school uniform. It was pretty basic as uniforms go – a black blazer with the Shujin Academy logo embroidered on the left breast, a white dress shirt, a pair of black trousers with red plaid patterns on them, and a pair of black dress shoes.

I plugged my earphones into my phone, started playing "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, and went downstairs. I went into the kitchen without so much as glancing into the living room and put some bread in the toaster. I boiled the kettle and made myself some tea at the same time – I poured the tea into my Thermos. When my toast was done, I buttered it, and then left the house, eating as I went with music blasting into my ears.

I didn't like spending too much time in the house.

There was no need for me to catch the overly-crowded train. I was within walking distance of the school. I wished I had brought an umbrella the second I stepped into the rain, but I didn't go back inside for one. By my logic, getting sick from the rain would give me an excuse to stay out of school for a day or two while also having an excuse not to leave my bedroom. It was a win-win for me.

Plus, staying inside would reduce the risk of me getting involved with any of those weird accidents.

It was such a bizarre situation – apparently, a bunch of drivers on the road just sort of … stopped, that's the best way I can put it. Like, their bodies just kind of stopped working, and of course, that had been causing more than a few problems on the road. There had been no fatalities so far, to my knowledge, but if it kept on happening, then it was only a matter of time. I heard it was happening to a few trains, too. Just one more thing to make me grateful that I didn't have to take a train to school, I guess.

This shithole city's going to the dogs, I thought as I walked. They just straight-up ignore a teacher using the students as his punching bags and sex toys, now people are having bizarre-o accidents like this … God, I can't wait until I'm old enough to leave this place.

I had it in my head that I was going to move out into the countryside one day. I spent a week in a small town back in 2011 and I liked that place well enough, even if there was some really weird shit going on there at the time. It was one of the few truly peaceful moments I could mention if I was asked.

As I walked near the train station, more and more people were running to escape the rain. Most of them had umbrellas. It was as I walked to go by the train station that I noticed two people.

One of them I had never seen before, but he stood out to me for some reason. He looked kind of like he was designed to be a harem protagonist in an animé, with the black hair and eyes that matched most of the people around us. The bushiness of his hair made him stand out, however, as did his glasses and his height – this guy was pretty tall for a high school student. He was wearing the Shujin Academy uniform, so I knew he went to my school.

The other was somebody most of the school was familiar with. I, too, knew her by reputation, a reputation that I always suspected was unfair – just because someone's attractive doesn't automatically make them a slut. I knew who it was even before she took down her hood; not many students at Shujin Academy modified their uniforms to such an extent. She wore the standard black blazer over a varsity-like white hoodie with some red and blue stripes at the bottom that was long enough to completely obscure her skirt from view. On her legs was a pair of red tights that really lived up to the name tights. She wore brown boots with yellow laces. When she finally pulled down her hood, it released her bushy pigtails of ash-blonde hair and unveiled her pretty face and dazzling blue eyes to the world. She wasn't fully Japanese, that much was easy to tell.

I think the guy was as captivated by her beauty as a lot of other guys are the first time they see her. I won't try to deny it, I was much the same way when I first saw her around the school. The guy stared at her, awestruck.

The girl – Takamaki Ann – seemed to sense his eyes on her and started looking around, eventually settling her gaze on him. She looked at him, gone out, for a moment, then smiled softly and turned away.

A rather odd way of reacting to someone staring at you, I reflected. Then again, it isn't exactly common practice to keep staring after you've been caught, either … Hell, I don't even know what's going on anymore.

Then a grey car drove slowly past me and stopped beside the new guy and Takamaki-san. I knew that car. Everyone knew that car.

Kamoshida … I thought grimly.

I know he was a teacher, but referring to him as Kamoshida-sensei would have left a bad taste in my unused mouth. I took one of my earphones out so that I could hear what was happening.

I heard the sounds of his car window rolling down. "Good morning," the bastard's voice came out. "You want me to give you a ride to school? You're gonna be late."

"Sure, thank you," said Takamaki-san. She was smiling, but it didn't take super-vision to see her smile fade as she actually got into the car.

"You need a lift, too?" Kamoshida asked the new guy. I knew he didn't mean it.

I think the new guy sensed that much by himself. "Nah," he said, smiling politely. His smile faded slightly just before the car actually drove off. I don't know what he saw, but it definitely seemed to set him on edge.

Then, running past me, came another person I knew by reputation, Sakamoto Ryuji. He had short spiky blond hair which was styled into a widow's peak and dark brown eyes. The outer sides of his eyebrows appear to have been shaved off. He wore the usual black blazer but unbuttoned to reveal a yellow T-shirt with a comic-style star symbol and the word "ZOMG!" on the chest. His plaid trousers were rolled up to reveal his ankles – the black suspenders that were normally worn on the shoulders, he let hang down loosely. He had a white belt and white trainers.

Sakamoto-san stopped by the new guy and stared after the car.

I had fully reached them by that point and despite my usual habit of just ignoring everyone, I felt the need to stop and stare, too. A girl getting into Kamoshida's car was never a good sign. I suddenly felt a sense of dread for a girl I had never even had a conversation with.

"Damn it," Sakamoto-san said under his breath. "Screw that pervy teacher."

Indeed, I thought.

"Pervy teacher …?" asked the new guy.

Sakamoto-san turned around and seemed to notice the new guy for the first time. "… What do you want?" he asked aggressively. "You plannin' on rattin' me out to Kamoshida?"

I got out my pad and paper and started writing. I tapped Sakamoto-san on the shoulder to get his attention, then showed him the paper. "I think he's new," it said.

"Huh?" Sakamoto-san looked confused. "Why aren't ya speakin—" His eyes widened. "Oh! You're Ochiai, right? Sorry, man, I didn't recognise you."

I shrugged to show him it was all right.

"Can't you talk?" the new guy asked me.

I shook my head.

"Wow … that sucks."

I shrugged and tilted my head from left to right to show that it didn't bother me. That was a complete lie. It did bother me and will probably always bother me, but there was no reason to draw sympathy from anybody. Sympathy is just really fucking annoying – false sympathy is worse. I put my pen to the paper again and started writing.

"Ochiai Hiroyasu," the paper read. "Nice to meet you."

The new guy smiled. "Kurusu Akira," he said. "Nice to meet you, too."

"The guy in that car just now was Kamoshida," Sakamoto-san explained to Kurusu-san. "He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is – the king of the castle?" He looked at me. "Don't you agree?"

I nodded without hesitating.

"The king of a castle …?" Kurusu-san asked, blatantly confused.

"No, I mean …" Sakamoto-san rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Whatever. You'll know him soon enough. This rain ain't too bad. We better hurry up, or we'll be late."

That's when a migraine hit me like a truck. I doubled over and grabbed my throbbing head. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Kurusu-san and Sakamoto-san were doing the same. The pain passed pretty quickly and I was just left feeling light-headed, but that still didn't make it any more comfortable.

Sakamoto-san groaned. "My head hurts … Damn it … I wanna go home …"

You and me both, pal, I thought.

Sakamoto-san started walking, and I followed. Kurusu-san started following the both of us soon after. Sakamoto-san turned down an alleyway that acted as a shortcut to the school – I used it, myself, sometimes, but not frequently. I followed him down there that day. Something in my gut just told me that I should stick with these two. As we walked through the alley, I couldn't help but notice that something felt off. There was something different, but I couldn't tell what it was. It set me on edge, though.

And then I saw it.

Sakamoto-san stopped dead when he exited the alleyway. He was staring up at something.

I stepped out and looked, too, and I was as dumbstruck as he was.

What … the actual … fuck …? I asked in my mind.

In front of us, where the school building normally was, was a castle. A big castle, at that. It wasn't the nice kind, either. It was the sort of thing I'd expect to find if I simply walked into Mordor. It was a massive structure built out of dark brown and grey stone. What windows there were, I could not clearly see through, and the light that shone from within them came out a hellish red. It looked like the sort of castle the protagonists of a horror film have to survive in for a night in order to collect a reward of some sort (normally just their lives).

That last comparison sent a bit of a shudder through me.

"We … didn't come the wrong way, though," Sakamoto-san said in confusion. "Yeah, this should be right. What's going on here? Guess we'll just have to go and ask."

Bad idea, I found myself thinking. That's a very bad idea.

But, of course, we went anyway.

We walked up the stone steps and through the massive entrance door of the castle, which had one of those iron gates that you could lower and rise to keep people out. Luckily (or unluckily) for us, it was open. The inside was about as typical a castle interior as you can get. The floor was chequered with black and white tiles and there was a large red rug in the centre of the room. There was a big, fancy chandelier hanging from the ceiling and candles hung on every wall. The windows showed nothing but glowing white from outside, which was odd, but it was hardly the oddest thing to have happened so far.

"Th-That's weird …" said Sakamoto-san. "Where's the school …?"

[I think we're in it] I signed. The thought was mad – insane, even – but we had taken all the right directions to get to the school and I didn't remember there being any kind of castle in the area before, so it was the only logical assumption I could make. Even then, I didn't quite believe the words as I was signing them out with my hands.

"What?" asked Sakamoto-san. "I … I don't know sign language, dude, sorry. Can you go back to doin' the paper thing?"

"He says he thinks we're in the school," said Kurusu-san.

I looked at him in surprise. I had only used sign language as a force of habit because I wasn't thinking straight, I didn't actually expect either of them to know it. That made things a lot easier, actually.

"What?" asked Sakamoto-san. He turned to me. "You goin' nuts, Ochiai? This place doesn't look anythin' like the school."

I turned to Kurusu-san and signed again. [But we came the right way. This castle is exactly where the school is. There isn't any other explanation.]

Kurusu-san kindly relaid this message to Sakamoto-san.

"I … I guess I see your point, but …" Sakamoto-san shook his head. "It should be the school … It even said 'Shujin' on the gate … What's goin' on here?" He took out his phone and looked at it. "Out of service? Where'd we end up …?"

It was only at this point that I finally realised my music had stopped playing through my earphones. I was on Spotify Premium, so there really wasn't any way the music should have stopped considering the app's offline streaming services, but it had been cut off. That was what had been unsettling me, I realised, the sudden loss of sound in my ear had put me on edge.

Sakamoto-san looked at me. His eyes were wide with confused desperation. "The sign was for the school, right?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"What's going on here?" asked Kurusu-san.

"I-I dunno!" Sakamoto-san snapped. "I wanna know!"

So do I.

CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!

The clinking of metal bumping against metal grabbed my attention and I turned, as did the other two. It was some sort of knight, soldier, guard, or something of the like. His armour was dark grey and had the light of the candles around the room reflecting off of it. Beneath the helmet, where a person's face would normally be poking through, there was a passive-looking blue mask. He had a nasty-looking shining sword and a massive dark grey shield.

Someone's taking their enthusiasm for medieval shit a bit too far, I thought nervously as I eyed this new arrival up and down.

"Jeez, you freaked me out …" said Sakamoto-san. "Who're you? You a student?" He walked toward the guard, which I thought was ill-advised. "Man, your costume's impressive … Is that armour real?" He got no response and that seemed to piss him off. "C'mon, don't just stand there. Say somethin'."

That's when another guard came in through the door and the two guards started pointing their swords at us.

I started to hold my arms up in preparation to defend myself. I wasn't a great fighter, I'll admit, but when it came to the fight, flight, or freeze instinct, I sure as hell wasn't a flight or freeze guy.

"… H-Hey, what's goin' on?" Sakamoto-san asked nervously.

"This must be a prank," Kurusu-san said with more certainty than I think I'd have been able to muster.

[Pretty in-depth prank] I signed, not caring if anyone was looking or not.

"You really think so …?" Sakamoto-san asked Kurusu-san hopefully. One of the guards stepped closer and we got a look at the armour and weapons – they weren't fake. "… This shit's real." The other guard stepped closer. "C-Calm down! Timeout, man! We gotta run!"

"Got it," said Kurusu-san.

I nodded.

"Stop standin' around and run!" Sakamoto-san snapped at us.

The three of us took off running in the opposite direction of the guards … only to find two more guards closing in on us from that way. We stopped dead in our tracks.

Sakamoto-san grunted. "What's with these guys!?"

A guard hit Sakamoto-san in the back with his shield and Sakamoto-san fell to the ground with a yell.

"Ow …" Sakamoto-san groaned out. "Y-You're gonna break my bones, damn it! The hell you think you're—" He released another yell of pain.

The guards started closing in …

I was terrified …

Those swords … so sharp … Those shields … such thick metal …

I started shaking. I'm going to die. The thought was eerily calm, blunt, and certain. I gave myself something of a scare by thinking it.

"Take them away!" one of the guards ordered.

One metal whack to the head later, I was unconscious.

"… Hey," said a familiar voice. It sounded far away and echoed.

I became acutely aware of a dull throbbing at the back of my head.

"Hey! Wake up, you two!"

I snapped my eyes open and was greeted by the dark grey stone brick that was the ceiling of the prison cell. Whatever I was lying on was covered in some sort of fabric sheet, but that didn't do anything to help my back on the uncomfortable surface. With some struggle, I sat up. I looked to my right and saw Kurusu-san was on the thing I can't stand to call a bed with me, also waking up and rubbing his head.

There were chains and shackles hanging from the walls. This was definitely a pretty old cell. We're talking Dark Ages stuff, here.

Oh, hell, no, I ain't going in for that 50 Shades of Grey shit! I thought as I nervously eyed the shackles hanging on the walls. The thought was so absurd that it nearly made me laugh. Nearly.

"You guys all right?" Sakamoto-san asked us.

I tilted my head from side to side to say "So-so."

"Yup," said Kurusu-san. "You?"

"Yeah, more or less," said Sakamoto-san. He stretched one of his arms out and started rubbing it, groaning a bit. He looked around the cell. "Looks like this ain't no dream … Ugh, what's goin' on!?" He ran over to the bars of the cell door and started banging on them loudly. "Hey, let us outta here! I know there's someone out there!" After a few seconds of nothing, he came back over to us. "Damn it, where are we!? Is this some kinda TV set …?"

"I don't see any cameras. Do you?" I wrote in my notepad and showed them.

"No," said Kurusu-san. "I don't."

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The scream startled me so much that I leapt to my feet without even meaning to do so. Kurusu-san stood up, too, and Sakamoto-san gave a start and turned around to face the cell door again. So far, all I had seen were those weird guard motherfuckers, so the thought that other people might be trapped in here really didn't occur to me. Now that the possibility opened up in my mind, however, I couldn't help but wonder how long these others might have been in here, how long it might take us to escape …

Kurusu-san and Sakamoto-san ran over to the cell door. I shook those thoughts from my mind and followed them. Now wasn't the time to get all pessimistic.

"Th-The hell was that just now …?" Sakamoto-san asked.

"Please help … P-Please help … AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Whoa …" said Sakamoto-san, backing away from the bars a little. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa … You're shittin' me, right …?"

I really hope so.

"This is real bad …!" said Sakamoto-san. "Isn't there some way outta here!? C'mon, we gotta do something!"

[Like what?] I signed to Kurusu-san.

He hummed and started to look slowly around the room. Kurusu-san had a really intense thinking face. He walked over to some barrels just to the side of the door and looked at them, then shook his head and walked away – I guessed they were empty. Then he stopped and stared at the chains hanging from the wall. He walked toward them, stopping right before the wall, and rubbed his hand down one of them.

"Hey," said Sakamoto-san, "those chains're used for like … torturin' and stuff, right? Damn it! This shit ain't funny!"

My gaze was drawn in by the bed Kurusu-san and I had woken up on. How long has it been since we got knocked out …? I wondered. A cold hand of nervousness gripped me. Shit, I am so late for school! Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man … I started to wonder if the stay in this cell would be better than facing the music if I finally got home …

"Huh?" Sakamoto-san spoke up. "You guys here that?"

The three of us gathered by the cell door when the sound of metal footsteps grew nearer. Soon, a pair of guards approached our cell and stood outside.

"Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon," said one of the guards. "Your charge is 'unlawful entry.' Thus, you will be sentenced to death."

… You know, on second thought, I think getting in trouble at home would be better, I decided.

"Say what!?" Sakamoto-san exclaimed.

"No one's allowed to do as they please in my castle," a disturbingly familiar voice said from behind the guards. It was the same as the one I had heard from the car earlier, only this one was distorted, much like the voices of the guards.

Kamoshida!

Sure enough, the prick himself came waltzing up from behind his guards … only he sure as hell wasn't wearing what he usually wore to school. It was definitely him, with his long, black, and unkempt hair, his thick, bushy eyebrows, and his bizarrely square-shaped jaw. But he was wearing a fucking cloak, a red one with light and dark pink hearts patterned all over it and with white fluff around the neck and going down the middle. On his head was a golden crown. And then there were his eyes … his normally black eyes were now a bright gold.

"King of the castle," eh, Sakamoto-san? I thought. Jesus … you really hit the nail on the head with that one, didn't you?

"Huh?" Sakamoto-san said in confusion. "Wait … Is that you, Kamoshida?"

"Who?" asked Kurusu-san.

"I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it'd be you, Sakamoto …" Kamoshida turned his eyes toward me. "And Ochiai, the little silent spook. My, my." Kamoshida grinned. "Are you two trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven't learned your lesson at all, huh?" He looked at Kurusu-san. "And you brought a friend this time … because you can't do anything for yourselves."

Sakamoto banged on the cell door aggressively. "This ain't funny, you asshole!" he yelled.

I was inclined to agree.

Kamoshida's smile faded into a scowl. "Is that how you speak to a king?" he asked. "It seems you don't understand the position you're in at all. You should just make like Ochiai and shut the hell up. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me – the king." His smirk returned. "The punishment for that is death. It's time for an execution! Take him out!"

One of the guards approached the cell door.

Kurusu-san, Sakamoto-san, and I all took a step away from the door. The guards were somehow even more intimidating in this enclosed space. The certainty of death gripped me once again.

"S-Stop it …!" said Sakamoto-san weakly as he backed away.

The guard opened the door and stepped in. He was followed by the other guard, who stood to the right of the door. Kamoshida walked in after the two. The first guard held his shield up and walked toward Sakamoto-san, forcing him to back away.

I backed up against one of the walls nervously.

"… God damn it …!" said Sakamoto-san. Then, quite unexpectedly, he charged forward with a little yell and pushed against the guard's shield. The guard staggered back and fell to the ground.

The fuck? I thought, tilting my head in confusion. Maybe these pricks aren't so tough, after all.

The thought of it filled me with hope.

"I ain't down for this shit!" Sakamoto-san growled. He looked between Kurusu-san and I. "C'mon, we're outta here!"

Then a guard came from the back of the cell and nailed Sakamoto-san in the stomach with the blunt side of his sword. Sakamoto-san fell to the ground with a pained grunt.

[Where the hell did he come from?] I signed to Kurusu-san.

Kurusu-san shrugged, sweating.

I could feel myself sweating, too. It was a cold one, filled with fear. Fear for my life.

The three guards stood surrounding Sakamoto-san, who was kneeling on the ground cradling his stomach.

Kurusu-san started trying to push against one of their backs.

"Just go!" Sakamoto-san managed to yell weakly. "Get outta here …! These guys are serious!"

Kamoshida looked between Kurusu-san and me, clearly amused. "Oh?" he said. "Running away, are we? What heartless friends you are."

"They ain't friends …" said Sakamoto-san. "C'mon! Hurry up and go!"

"What's the matter?" Kamoshida asked us. "Too scared to run away? Hmph, pathetic scum isn't worth my time …" He looked down at Sakamoto-san and smirked again. "I'll focus on this one's execution …" He walked forward, past the two guards, and picked Sakamoto-san up roughly by the front of his shirt. The grin on his face was now wide and manic, bordering on laughter. "Take this!"

He threw a solid punch at Sakamoto-san's face.

I flinched as Sakamoto-san yelled out. Seeing Kamoshida punch a student wasn't anything new, but this was the first time, I think, that he had been doing so with the intention of killing them. Even worse was the fact that, despite all the evidence suggesting that this was some sort of copy or imitation of Kamoshida, it was so easy to picture him acting this way and doing these things that I had no doubt that he was the genuine article. But why the king getup? What was with the golden eyes? And what the hell had he done with the school?

"Lowly scum!"

Two more punches.

I can't watch this, I thought and went to close my eyes tightly … but stopped myself. I can't just … just stand here and watch this!

Taking a deep breath in an unsuccessful attempt to calm my nerves, I pushed myself forward into the closest thing I could get to a run. In the middle of my charge, however, one of the guards got in front of me and rammed his shield into my chest. The impact knocked all the air from my lungs and I started to choke silently. I doubled over, backed off, and had to put a hand against the wall to steady myself.

"Looks like the silent spook's growing a backbone," said Kamoshida. "Good. He should be more fun to deal with than you."

He delivered a punch to Sakamoto-san's stomach.

"Useless pest!"

And Sakamoto-san fell to the floor after another punch to the face.

Kamoshida glanced uncaringly down at him and spat. "… Hmph. Where'd your energy from earlier go? Ochiai just did more fighting back than you and it isn't even his turn yet."

One of the guards picked Sakamoto-san up by the back of his blazer and threw him at Kamoshida's feet.

"A peasant like you isn't worth beating," said Kamoshida. "I'll have you killed right now."

"Have you lost your mind!?" Kurusu-san shouted.

"Hm?" Kamoshida hummed, turning to face Kurusu-san. "What …? Don't you dare tell me you don't know who I am." He walked toward Kurusu-san until their faces were inches from each other. "That look in your eyes irritates me!" He brought his leg up and kicked Kurusu-san in the chest, knocking him back and onto the floor, against the wall. "Hold him there … After the peasant, it's his turn to die. Ochiai can go last – you know what they say about being kinder to the disabled. He gets to live just long enough to see these two die."

Over my dead body, I thought.

I stood up, having finally gotten enough breath back, and went to charge again. This time, the guard forced his arm against my throat and backed me against the wall, holding me there. I clawed desperately at the metal armour, but it did me no good.

Kurusu-san tried to charge, but two of the guards grabbed him by his shoulders and forced him against the wall.

"No … No, I don't wanna die …" Sakamoto-san whined out. As tough a guy as he was, a situation like this was bound to make anyone crack eventually. It was just unfortunate for Sakamoto-san that Kamoshida had chosen to focus on him.

Kamoshida laughed loudly.

One of the guards lifted Sakamoto-san up by the front of his shirt and forced him against the wall. He lifted him up … up … up … until Sakamoto-san's legs were flailing about wildly and his arms were clutching at the guard's arm. The guard pointed his sword at Sakamoto-san's chest, ready to strike …

Kurusu-san started struggling wildly.

Despite the fact that the guards were holding his shoulders, he looked like his whole body was being racked with pain.

Then he released one massive scream of pain up into the air.

"Execute him!" Kamoshida ordered the guard holding Sakamoto-san.

"That's enough!" Kurusu-san shouted in rage.

Kamoshida's face morphed from an expression of triumph to one of absolute rage as he turned to face Kurusu-san. "What was that …?" he asked in a dangerously low voice.

The guard released Sakamoto-san, who dropped to his feet with a very deep breath.

"You desire to be killed that much …?" Kamoshida asked Kurusu-san. "Fine!" He nodded to one of the guards holding Kurusu-san against the wall.

The guard took his shield and full-on whacked it against Kurusu-san's face.

Kurusu-san was knocked to the side but retained his footing. His now shattered glasses fell to the floor in front of him.

The two guards pinned him against the wall again, this time with a pair of spears that crisscrossed in front of his throat. A third guard stood in front of him, sword ready to strike.

Sakamoto-san, who had fallen to the floor shortly after taking his relieved breath, tried to stand up but fell down with a grunt.

I was still being pinned to the wall by my throat.

Kamoshida raised his hand …

The guard raised his sword …

… and then Kurusu-san's eyes opened wide and an incredibly powerful wind blew through the cell, knocking all of the guards away from us and knocking me to the ground. Kamoshida put an arm to his head and gritted his teeth against the wind. It seemed to gather around Kurusu-san like some sort of gaseous, moving cocoon.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, it went.

"Huh?" said Kamoshida.

For the first and only time in my life, I shared the sentiment.

Kurusu-san still stood against the wall, but the spears were not enclosed around him anymore, so it would have been a simple matter to move away. But there was something else knew … that mask … A white domino mask with sharp ends, a sharp part going just a bit down the nose, and black around the eyes sat on his face where his glasses once were. He seemed just as confused by it as I was, as he lifted his hands to it and started to touch it like he was trying to figure out if it was really there.

"Huh?" he said, feeling it. "Huh?"

He got a good grip on it and started trying to pull the mask off his face. It didn't budge. He flailed around wildly with his hands tightly gripping the mask and yanking at it, but it wouldn't leave its spot over his eyes. Then he moved both hands to the left side of the mask and started to pull on just that side …

… and it started to come off …

… but a hell of a lot of blood started spewing from where it was pulling off from!

Is it … is it ATTACHED TO HIS FUCKING SKIN!? I thought in a blind panic.

With an ear-bleeding cry of pain, Kurusu-san yanked the mask off his face, leaving a large mass of flowing blood where it once was. The blood spewed out as the mask came off and continued to drip down his face as he brought his arms back down to his sides.

His head was facing down.

His hair covered his eyes.

And then the strangest thing happened.

He smiled.

Then he tilted his head up to face everyone …

His eyes had turned gold.

His smile morphed into a full-on grin.

Before I had any time to think on this, the next completely insane thing happened.

Kurusu-san seemed to explode into bright blue flames that threw the blood right off his face. Laughter from a voice I had never heard before echoed around the room as the flames spread from him to behind and above him.

Kamoshida and all the guards backed away.

I watched, transfixed, as the bright blue mass of flame seemed to gain a face of red fire: a grinning, demonic face.

The flames then left Kurusu-san, who chuckled as the strange being hovered behind him, now with chains hanging off of it.

The flames dissipated completely …

It was a metallic figure with red legs and arms and a black torso with bits of white that made it look like it was wearing an old aristocrat's suit – there was even what appeared to be a white piece of fabric mimicking a fancy scarf. Its head was a strange shape – looking like an upside down triangle with the two points at the top extended upwards while the rest stayed the same – that was white on the right side and red on the left side. On the ends of its hands were long black claws, and on its back was a pair of massive black, feathered wings.

Kurusu-san was also dressed differently.

He had on a large black overcoat with the large collar extended upwards. It was on above a dark grey shirt, a pair of black trousers, and on his feet, a pair of black boots.

What the ever-loving fuck is going on …? I thought in bewilderment.

Kurusu-san thrust his hand outwards, and the creature behind him whipped its chains out, knocking all the guards away with ease.

Kamoshida back against the wall and whimpered then ran out of the cell.

"W-What the …?" asked Sakamoto-san.

Kurusu-san looked between the two of us and grinned.

"I am the pillager of twilight," said the creature that floated in the air behind him, still with blue flames dancing around it. "'Arsene'!"

"What the …?" Sakamoto-san said again.

[What the fuck is that?] I signed to Kurusu-san, probably too quickly.

"I am the rebel's soul that resides within you," said Arsene. He was talking to Kurusu-san. "If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis."

"Give me your power," said Kurusu-san.

"Hmph, very well …"

"Who the hell are you …!?" Kamoshida asked in outrage and fear from outside the still open cell. I have to admit, it was satisfying seeing those emotions on his face. "Guards!" All of the knocked-over guards stood back up. "Start by killing that one!"

As if this scenario couldn't get any more terrifying, the guards then all morphed into jack-o'-lantern looking things with wizard hats, capes, and lanterns in their hands.

"You'll learn the true strength of my men!" Kamoshida announced dementedly.

"Detest the enemies before you!" said Arsene. "Change that animosity into power … and unleash it!"

"Persona!" shouted Kurusu-san.

Arsene bent down and spread his wings out, pointing one of his clawed hands at the crypt-dwelling pyromaniacs. A number of … I want to say "strings" of red and yellow energy erupted from the ground around one of the pumpkin-headed freaks and then converged on it, making it flinch rather visibly. The energy wasn't really in "strings," as such, but they were long and thin, so that's what I'm going with.

As Kurusu-san seemed like he was getting ready for another attack, the thing he just damaged floated toward him and swung its lantern around. It hit Kurusu-san, but he did little more than flinch.

The second crypt-dwelling pyromaniac followed soon after with much the same results.

"Swing your blade!" Arsene shouted.

Kurusu-san charged toward the crypt-dwelling pyromaniac he had already damaged and delivered a slash downwards and to the right, straight upwards, and then he brought it down for an upwards-to-the-right slash.

The crypt-dwelling pyromaniac vanished in a torrent of black smoke.

"This power of mine is yours! Kill them however you want. Run wild to your heart's content!"

The only remaining crypt-dwelling pyromaniac swung his lantern again, hitting Kurusu-san but once again doing little to no damage.

"Persona!" Kurusu-san shouted again. He pointed at his enemy. "You're mine."

The red and yellow energy exploded from the ground, struck the crypt-dwelling pyromaniac head-on, and it, too, vanished in an explosion of black smoke.

Then Arsene vanished and the mask was back on Kurusu-san's face.

So amazed by these events was I that I didn't even question that there were less crypt-dwelling pyromaniacs than there had been guards, a minute ago.

"What …?" said Sakamoto-san. "What was that just now …?"

[I would like to know that, as well] I signed.

Kamoshida walked back into the cell now that Arsene was gone and glared at Kurusu-san. "You little …!"

Sakamoto-san got up and charged at him.

Kamoshida yelled out in pain as Sakamoto-san landed a punch right to his face.

"You like that, you son of a bitch!?" Sakamoto-san asked with a triumphant grin on his face.

I clapped enthusiastically. I kind of felt like a retard in doing so, but it's the only way I can truly express approval, these days.

"The key!" said Kurusu-san.

"Y-You mean this?" Sakamoto-san picked up a large key from the floor beside where Kamoshida had landed. The three of us ran out of the cell, and Sakamoto-san locked the door behind us. "Okay, it's locked!"

Kamoshida stood from his spot on the floor and glared at us through the bars. "Damn you!"

I then used one of the only pieces of sign language that was truly universal: I stuck my middle finger up at him. I felt Sakamoto-san pat me on the back in approval.

"Hey …!" he said to Kurusu-san. "What was that just now!?"

[It was kind of like a Stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure] Then I remembered that Sakamoto-san couldn't understand sign language, so I wrote it down quickly and showed it to him. It was a testament to how long I'd been doing this that the rushed handwriting was still eligible.

"… Yeah, I see what you mean. But … that stuff ain't real life, is it?"

I shrugged and wrote: "All of this has been pretty fucking bizarre so far, that's all I'm saying."

"Doesn't explain his clothes, though."

As though in response to his statement, Kurusu was surrounded in what appeared to be white smoke. When it faded, he was back in his school uniform and his mask was nowhere to be found. Even his glasses were back perfectly intact, conveniently enough.

"Whoa, it went back to normal …!?" said Sakamoto-san.

I clapped again, this time slower and more sarcastically. "So happy to have you on the case, Holmes. Your skills of observation know no bounds."

"Hey, I am not afraid to punch a guy who can't talk!"

Kamoshida grabbed the bars roughly and started shaking the cell door. I backed off out of nervousness.

"You bastards!" he shouted at us.

"God, this is fuckin' nuts!" said Sakamoto-san. "Anyways, let's scram! You lead the way!"

Kurusu-san nodded and started running.

I followed right along.

"God damn thieves …!" I heard Kamoshida growl out. "After them! Don't let them escape! Y-You bastards! You think you can get away with doing this to me!?"

"I don't give a shit!" said Sakamoto-san. "I ain't down for any of this! C'mon, let's get outta here!"

Just outside the cell, there was some sort of river or moat that was running with unnaturally bright blue water. There was a dirt pathway to the left that went up some stairs. Kurusu-san led us up those. There were a lot of bars up there, blocking our path, but it looked like there was a wooden bridge going across the water. The only problem was …

It just had to be fucking broken, I thought.

"Think we can jump across?" asked Sakamoto-san.

On reflection, it wasn't actually that far across.

Kurusu-san went to the edge and leapt across with ease. Sakamoto-san did the same just after. I hesitated a second, looking down at the water and gulping, before taking a deep breath. I walked forward and pushed off the floor, clearing the distance with no trouble.

To our left was an open gate. We went through. There was another dirt track that took us up a slope. It didn't look like there was anywhere else to go, but Kurusu-san went to the left and jumped, landing on a cage that was sitting in the water. Then he jumped to another. Sakamoto-san jumped to the one Kurusu-san was on before. Kurusu-san jumped from the cage he was on to the dirt track on the other side of the water. Sakamoto-san jumped to the next cage.

I was nervous on my feet, but I thought I could make it. I jumped to the cage Sakamoto-san had just been on. My foot slipped through one of the gaps in the bars and I scraped my angle on the rough metal, but I managed to pull myself up quickly enough and jumped to the next one, as Sakamoto-san was already on the other side. I then jumped the last jump and was with the other two again.

"You okay?" Kurusu-san asked me.

[Fine] I signed. [That scrape took a bit of skin off, but it'll scab over in a few minutes. Should be good.]

He nodded at me and we kept on our way.

We turned left again, this time going down the slope. There was a more intact but still pretty unstable-looking wooden bridge that took us over the water. Walking was uncomfortable thanks to the ankle scrape, but I was managing. We ran past several empty cells as we moved.

"Hold on," said Kurusu-san raising a hand and stopping us in our tracks.

He turned right, into the only open cell we had seen thus far. There was a small hole near the bottom of the left-hand wall. Kurusu-san got on his hands and knees and started to crawl through.

I was quick to follow after him this time. Sakamoto-san's bag was going to get stuck, I could tell, and I didn't want to get stuck with an eyeful of his ass anytime soon.

"Crap! My bag's stuck!"

Fucking called it.

We came out in a room with more chains on the walls and a few barrels scattered about. We immediately turned left and took off out of there. Then a right and down the dirt track and a slope.

"Hey, hold up!" said Sakamoto-san.

He crouched down by the corner we were about to run around. Kurusu-san and I did the same.

"Look!" Sakamoto-san hissed quietly. "There's some guys in armour over there. They'll prolly call for backup if we try and take 'em on. We should go some other way …!"

And back up the slope we went.

We ran until we came across a larger bridge to the right, which we went across.

"Is this a drawbridge?" asked Sakamoto-san. "Dude, the hell is this place?"

A fucking castle! I wished I could yell at him.

We got off the bridge, took a right, and went down another dirt slope.

"Get down!" Kurusu-san hissed at us.

The three of us took cover behind a pile of boxes and barrels as the guards from the other side of the water came around the corner we had seen them from and moved in the direction we had come from.

"Over there …" said Sakamoto-san. "They're lookin' for us, right? I ain't playin' along with this anymore! We gotta find a way outta this God damn place!"

"Working on it, Sakamoto-san," said Kurusu-san.

We made a left and came to a spiral staircase, which we ascended. It was a very tiring experience. At the top, to the right, we found a large wooden door. Through it was basically more of the same. Water flowed in front of us and our only option was to go left. We got moving in that direction, and then …

"H-Hey …" Sakamoto-san said weakly. "Look …"

There were cages hanging over the water in here. The big difference between these cages and the ones downstairs, however, as that these ones had people in them. Even worse, they looked like they were students if the Shujin uniforms they wore were anything to go by. It was impossible to recognise them, though, since their heads were covered by metal helmets.

The image sent a chill racing down my spine.

"We really did hear people screamin' …" said Sakamoto-san, who was clearly as horrified as I was. "So we ain't the only ones who got captured! Is, uh … Is he okay …?"

They don't look very okay, I thought grimly.

We stared in abject horror for a few more moments. I found myself cringing inwardly even as I struggled to keep a straight face. This day had started out so very normal for me, yet I had somehow ended up at Destination Fucked so quickly I'm still surprised I didn't get any kind of whiplash from it.

We got moving again after a fashion. There was nothing we could do to get to those poor souls.

And then we found a wall.

"Another dead end …?" said Sakamoto-san. "Damn it! How the hell're we supposed to get outta here!?"

"As nice as it would be, I doubt it was Kamoshida's intention to let people leave," I wrote out and showed him.

He just grunted.

"… Hey, you there," said a high-pitched voice from nearby. "Blondie! Frizzy hair! Skinny! Look over here!"

I turned around to face where the voice was coming from. The other two did the same. I was now very confused – this voice sounded relatively normal. The only voices I'd heard in here so far were all distorted and normally filled with aggression. I got even more confused when I saw what was in the cell the voice had come from.

Is that … a cat? I blinked, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. I have officially gone mad.

The small creature that was standing with its – hands? paws? whatever – against the bars of the cell barely came up to my knee in height. It was pitch black with white paws(?) and two little yellow circles at the tops of its legs. The bottom portion of its head, extending to just above the mouth, was also white. Its eyes were big, round, and blue. Its ears were pointed, just like a cat's. To top it all off, it was wearing a little yellow Ascot.

"What is this thing!?" exclaimed Sakamoto-san.

"You're not soldiers of this castle, right!?" the cat(?) asked desperately. "Get me out of here! Look, the key's right there!" He started pointing at something.

"We're trying to get the hell out of here …!" said Sakamoto-san. "I mean, you obviously look like an enemy, too."

An enemy that small? I thought, raising an eyebrow. I think we could take him.

"I'm locked up here, so how can I be your enemy!?" The cat-thing brought up a good point. "Help me out!"

"… A cat?" asked Kurusu-san in a tone that implied his mind had only just caught up with the conversation.

The cat-thing's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I am not a cat! Say that again and I'll make you regret it!"

CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!

The sound of the armour clinking together made my blood run cold.

"They're catchin' up already …!" Sakamoto-san said with wide eyes. He took out his phone. "Shit, there's still no service. Ain't there any way to contact someone outside!? How the hell do we get out …!?"

"Hey, you three!" the cat-thing snapped. "You want to know where the exit is? Let me out and I'll take you there. You don't want to get caught and executed, right?"

"You better not be lying," Kurusu-san warned.

"I'm not lying!" said the cat-thing, starting to look worried. "It's the truth!"

"This thing sounds like it's all talk …" said Sakamoto-san.

"If you guys think you can get out on your own, then be my guest!" said the cat-thing.

"Whadda we do …?" asked Sakamoto-san.

"I say we go for it. We're already probably gonna fucking die, so what's the harm in showing a little trust? Besides, if he IS lying, we can give him a boot to his massive head before we go. Might be worth it just for the entertainment value." I wrote all this down and showed it to them.

"… You know, you're really not how I expected," said Sakamoto-san. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess 'cause you can't talk, I just thought you'd be all meek and shy."

I rolled my eyes. That was what everyone thought. Well, the ones who didn't think I was quiet because I did a lot of sneaking around, anyway. Ah, the joys of a high school rumour mill. "Ghost of the Girls' Locker Room," in-fucking-deed, Kamoshida, you cunt.

The sounds of the guards got closer.

"Are you seriously not messin' with us!?" Sakamoto-san asked the cat-thing.

"If you don't hurry, they'll catch you," said the cat-thing.

"F-Fine …" sighed Sakamoto-san. He walked over to where the cat-thing had pointed and found the keys to the cell. He unlocked the cell door and opened it.

The cat-thing walked out of the cell and stretched out his arms(?). "Ahhh … Freedom tastes so great … "

"Now, where's the exit, you monster cat!?" asked Sakamoto-san.

"Don't call me a cat!" the cat-thing told him. "I am Morgana!"

"Shuddup and hurry it up! You wanna be locked up again!?"

"A-All right, sheesh! Follow me, and stay quiet!"

Not a problem, I thought.

Morgana-san ran off ahead a little.

"Oh well …" said Sakamoto-san. "Guess we just gotta follow it."

"I'm pretty sure it's a 'he,'" I wrote out quickly.

"Whatever."

We followed Morgana-san forwards a few feet, then drew to a stop as he did. We stopped beside a raised drawbridge. Morgana-san was sitting and staring at a large statue of Kamoshida's head.

"What're you doin'?" Sakamoto-san asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" asked Morgana-san. "I'm lowering the bridge." Morgana-san turned to face Kurusu-san. "You, Frizzy Hair. It seems like you pick up on things faster than our Blondie over here. Try checking around the mou—"

Looking at the statue, something clicked into place in my head and a grin broke out across my face. I walked toward the statue, put my hand in its mouth, and pulled its jaw down so that its gruesomely smiling mouth was open. The statue's eyes glowed. The sounds of chains moving filled the air as the drawbridge lowered before us.

"How the hell did you know to do that!?" Sakamoto-san asked me.

"The jaw looked loose, like it was hanging off or something. The rest of the statue looks pretty solid, so I figured it was like that for a reason," I wrote.

"Huh …" said Morgana-san, looking up at me. "Not bad, Skinny. Not bad at all. To be honest, the fact that you haven't been talking made me think you might be stupid."

"No, he just can't talk," said Kurusu-san.

"Ah." Morgana-san winced in sympathy. "That's a shame. Come on, let's get going!"

We ran across the drawbridge, but as we reached the other side, a guard came out from the left. I skidded to a stop and wobbled a bit on my feet, but managed to keep my footing. Sakamoto-san, on the other hand, fell on his ass as he tried to back away.

"A-Aah!" yelled Sakamoto-san. "Shit … Shit, it's them!"

"Tch." Morgana-san made a sound with his tongue as he jumped over Sakamoto-san's head. "You amateur! Stay still! Hey, you!" He pointed at Kurusu-san, who was now decked out in that weird gear again. "You could fight, right? Let's go!" Morgana-san jumped and did a little flip. "Come …! Zorro!"

An explosive beam of bright blue light erupted around Morgana-san. I raised my hands to shield my squinting eyes from the light. The light mostly died down, but it was still surrounding … the massive figure floating just behind Morgana-san. It was a massive armoured figure with legs that were way too thin to hold its massive body. Its helmet had two half-circle yellow eyes. There was a large Z on its stomach. There was a black cape flowing behind it. There was a rapier in its right hand that was normal sized by my standards but looked positively tiny in its massive hand.

Zorro …? I thought. As in The Mask of Zorro …? Jesus Christ, what's next? Antonio Banderas' voice comes out of it? I was almost certain that I was completely insane at this point. Either that or somebody had spiked something I had eaten recently. One of the two.

"Y-You got one of those things, too!?" asked Sakamoto-san.

The guard exploded into a mass of black slime and began to transform into something else.

"Hmph," said Morgana-san, crossing his arms, "we will promptly shut them up!"

The guard became two separate monsters. One was a crypt-dwelling pyromaniac like in the cells before, but the other was some sort of brown humanoid creature with a pointed nose, slits for irises in yellow eyes, and pointed ears. It appeared to be bald.

"Damn Shadows … they've taken up intercept positions!" said Morgana-san. "It means they're holding nothing back and are serious to kill us! I'll back you up, so fight like your life depends on it! Let's go!"

"Persona!" Kurusu-san shouted, then ripped off his mask among a spouting of blood.

Arsene came into being once again. He unleashed the same red and yellow energy out of the floor as before and sent it at the bedside brute. It didn't seem to do much damage.

"Hmph, I knew you were an amateur," said Morgana-san cockily. "This is how you fight! Zorro, show your might!"

Zorro swung his rapier around in a swish-and-flick motion and a torrent of green wind blew around the crypt-dwelling pyromaniac. This seemed to damage it, strangely enough, as it fell to the floor when the wind dissipated.

"Strike at an enemy's weakness to knock them down!" said Morgana-san. "Use that opening to strike again! That's the most basic of basics! Remember it well! C'mon, let's hurry and get through this! Zorro!"

Zorro repeated his actions from before and hit the downed crypt-dwelling pyromaniac with more wind. This time, the wind killed it and it vanished in that puff of black smoke.

The bedside brute flew over and used the claws on its feet to claw at Morgana-san's head. It hit, but it didn't have long to relish in this most minor of triumphs, as Arsene brought that yellow and red energy out of the floor again and nailed it head-on. One puff of black smoke later, the bedside brute was no more.

"Not bad," said Morgana-san when Arsene and Zorro had vanished. "Your Persona's pretty powerful."

"Persona …?" asked Sakamoto-san. "Y'mean that thing that comes outta you guys all dramatic-like?"

"Yes," said Morgana-san. "You saw how Frizzy Hair here ripped off his mask when he summoned it, right? Well, everybody wears a mask deep within their heart. By removing that …"

Kurusu-san's weird clothes vanished again and he was back in the Shujin Academy uniform.

[I really wish your clothes would make their fucking mind up] I signed at him in a little amusement.

He chuckled slightly. "Me, too," he said.

Morgana-san hummed. "It looks like you don't have full control over your power yet," he said. "The transformation shouldn't normally dissolve like that. After all—"

Sakamoto-san groaned. "That's enough! This crap doesn't make any sense!"

"Can't you just sit still and listen for once, Blondie!?"

"Don't call me Blondie! My name's Ryuji …"

Morgana-san turned his head around like he was realising something. "Actually, there's no time for me to lecture you! You wanna escape this place in one piece, right? Let's go! Oh, but before that … take these. Use them carefully, okay?" He handed Kurusu-san three pill bottles.

Did this cat just give us drugs? I asked in my head. That is either awesome or horrifying … I'm really not sure which.

"Come on, we should hurry," said Morgana-san. "It's not much farther to the exit. Just make sure you're good on HP, okay?"

What?

"There's still a chance we'll end up having to fight in here."

Fucking WHAT did this pussy just say!?

I used my hands to make a T shape, tapping one hand atop the other in order to display urgency. This wasn't particularly urgent, now that I think about it, but at the time, I was a bit too baffled by what the fuck Morgana-san had just said to think straight. So I got my pad out and started writing.

"Did you REALLY just say 'HP'? I mean REALLY!? What the fuck do you think this is, some kind of video game!?"

Morgana-san just blinked up at me after reading it. "Does it matter?" he asked. "It's much easier than saying 'Hey, make sure all your blood's where it's meant to be,' you know?"

That doesn't make it any less fucking ridiculous to say out loud, I thought but didn't write it out. I just nodded so that we could get moving again.

We ran straight ahead and up a stone staircase. We were definitely getting closer to re-entering the actual castle if the vast improvement in architecture from where we were was anything to go by. We got to the top of the stairs and kept on running forward. Ahead of us, I could see a large wooden contraption that looked like an upright rectangular cuboid of sorts – the part closest to us looked like a wall of wooden scaffolding, and the part past that was just solid planks of wood right up to the top. We moved toward it until Sakamoto-san drew to a sudden stop as we made to pass by one of the cells.

"Hold on a sec!" he said.

I got confused for a moment, but then I saw the person in the cell. He was a teenager, around our age, and he was wearing … No way …! He was wearing a red and white shirt and tracksuit bottoms: the uniform of our school's sports teams.

"I feel like I've seen what this dude's wearin' before …" said Sakamoto-san. "Damn it! I'm too flustered! I can't remember a damn thing!"

Probably for the best, I thought. Ryuji Sakamoto was very infamous around the school as the "track traitor" after he tried to stand up to Kamoshida while he was on the track team and was not only kicked off as a result but apparently, Kamoshida had started going harder on the track team after the incident, to the point where he ended it entirely and managed to blame it on Sakamoto-san. To make matters worse, Kamoshida had started to spread rumours about Sakamoto-san being a violent delinquent, which of fucking course everyone believed because they all brown-nose that perverted bastard.

Every student in Shujin Academy had some reason to hate Kamoshida, and I was no exception.

But Sakamoto-san … he had a reputation to ruin, to begin with, so he probably had it worse than I did.

"Come on, let's go!" Morgana-san urged us.

"Hold on, damn it!" said Sakamoto-san.

"What is it? We need to go, fast!"

"But … who are these guys?"

"Do you really think you have time to worry about other people right now!? Besides, they're—"

"There!"

The guard's voice startled me as the large wooden contraption that had been up ahead moved. The part that looked like scaffolding rose in our direction and the solid part lowered in the opposite direction – it was a drawbridge. The second it lowered, the guard on the other side of it started to move toward us.

"You should've listened to me …!" Morgana-san hissed at Sakamoto-san.

"Let's fight," said Kurusu-san. Those weird clothes appeared on him again.

"I'm glad you stick to your guns," said Morgana-san, smiling.

The guard exploded into red and black goop as it started to reform itself. In its place appeared two identical small humanoid creatures which were definitely female. Had this been any other situation, I might have found her attractive. She had brown hair and pale skin and wore a thin, dark blue leotard that hugged her body, along with a long pair of gloves and long leggings that match the dark blue colour. On her back was a pair of fairy wings.

"Looks like it's raring to go, too!" said Morgana-san.

"Persona!" said Kurusu-san, ripping off his mask, and Arsene appeared.

Arsene caused the red and yellow energy to spring up below one of the beguiling girls. It hit her head on and she let out a little distorted scream, then fell to the ground. Then Arsene elegantly spun around with his wings spread, hitting the beguiling girl head-on with one of his wings. She gave a final yell and exploded into black smoke.

"Persona!" yelled Morgana-san, and Zorro popped up behind him.

Zorro waved his sword and caused the small gale of wind to crash into the other beguiling girl, which made her flinch, but otherwise, did nothing.

The beguiling girl tried to send something at Morgana-san with her hand, but he jumped out of the way.

Truly, he is as agile as a cat, I thought.

Kurusu-san darted forward and used his knife to slash at the beguiling girl a few times. She, like her fellow, exploded into black smoke and was no more.

Then Kurusu-san's clothes changed back to his school uniform and the Personas vanished.

"All right!" cheered Morgana-san. "Let's get away before more show up!"

"Hold on, we can't just leave these guys here …!" said Sakamoto-san.

I was inclined to agree with him. But I was curious – how was a member of the track team in a cage here and he hadn't been reported missing? People, quite infuriatingly, had a bad habit of completely ignoring the things Kamoshida did for the sake of making the school look good, but something on this scale wasn't something you can just cover up without anybody noticing. There was more to this than we knew and that made me hesitate.

"You really don't get it, do you?" Morgana-san asked in irritation. He let out a little growl. "… There's no time to explain. Look, I'm going. If you don't want to follow, be my guest!" He then started running off ahead.

"Damn it …" Sakamoto-san muttered. "Fine, I'm coming!" He ran off after him.

Kurusu-san and I followed closely behind.

After going across the newly opened drawbridge, we came across a narrow, barely lit staircase that went upwards.

"The entrance hall is right above here!" said Morgana-san. "The exit's close … Keep it up!"

We ran up the stairs and, true to Morgana-san's words, we came out inside the entrance hall. The large doors we had come in through were firmly closed, though. Morgana-san kept running. I took this as a sign that he knew of another way out. We ran into a corridor on the other side of the entrance hall and went right to the end. Morgana-san stopped when we came to a door on the left.

"We're here!" he said.

"Finally!" said Sakamoto-san. "We're saved …!"

About time, too, I thought, huffing and puffing silently. I'm not used to running so much … I think I've developed a newfound respect for the bullshit the track team have to put up with even on top of Kamoshida Cuntychops …

Sakamoto-san rushed over … to a door past the one on the left that was on the right and started bashing against it. He grunted as the door resisted him. "… It's not openin'!" he grunted. He turned around, glaring at Morgana-san. "D'you trick us, you jerk!?"

I waved a hand in front of Morgana-san to divert Sakamoto-san's attention onto me. Once he was looking at me, I pointed to the door on our left.

"Skinny is right," said Morgana-san. "It's this door over here." He pushed the door open and went inside.

"H-Hey, wait up!" said Sakamoto-san.

We all walked into the room after Morgana-san. It looked like storage space. There were a few near-empty bookshelves on one side of the room, but not much else.

"Where are we supposed to get out from here!?" asked Sakamoto-san. "There aren't even any windows!"

Morgana-san sighed. "Amateur … This is the most basic of basics."

"Are we going to die here?" Kurusu-san asked bluntly.

"That's right," said Morgana-san. His voice was so exaggerated that it was obvious he was mocking us. "Everything's hopeless and black like my fur— Now why would I die here with you three!? The ventilation shaft, you morons! You guys should be able to squeeze through it one at a time. Skinny should have an easier time of it."

Slightly miffed and suddenly empathetic with Sakamoto-san's hatred of the name "Blondie," I quickly wrote a sentence out on my paper. "My name is Ochiai Hiroyasu, NOT 'Skinny.' Call me Hiroyasu or shorten it, if you like. I don't really care."

"We're almost out of here, dummy!" said Morgana-san. "Couldn't you have waited until we're outside to get all annoyed about your name?"

"We just gotta get that metallic mesh off!" said Sakamoto-san, looking up at the vent Morgana-san had been referring to. It was a bit of an odd shape – the middle was like any other vent, if slightly bigger, but there were two smaller squares coming from the middle-top and middle-bottom. Sakamoto-san ran forward, climbed onto the bookcase the vent was above and grabbed onto the mesh. "And a one, and a—" He pulled and it came off without any resistance. He yelled out his surprise as he fell backwards and onto the floor. "Oww … Crap! The enemy didn't hear us, did they? Seriously, we're finally gettin' outta here …!"

"You should wait on celebrating until you actually get out," Morgana-san advised. "Now, get going!"

"But … what about you?" asked Sakamoto-san with genuine concern in his voice.

That surprised me. He hadn't exactly shown much fondness for Morgana-san so far. Then again, I suppose stress makes people act differently to how they usually would.

"There's something that I still have to do," said Morgana-san. "We're going our separate ways."

"Don't get caught again," said Kurusu-san.

Morgana-san laughed a little. "You better be careful, too."

"Thanks for the help," I wrote out and showed Morgana-san.

He smiled up at me. "Don't mention it. See ya."

Sakamoto-san climbed up the bookcase and wasted no time in crawling through the vent. Kurusu-san went after him. I climbed up the bookcase, knelt down, and started to crawl my way through after. It was a bit cramped, but at least it wasn't a realistic vent, otherwise, we never would have fit through it. As I got to the exit, I saw something strange: at the end of the vent, there was nothing but blackness with weird red swirls in it. It made me nervous, but since Sakamoto-san and Kurusu-san had gone through it, I didn't have much of a choice.

I braced myself, crawled through …

… and suddenly I was standing on the pavement in the busy Tokyo streets.

Kurusu-san and Sakamoto-san were beside me. Sakamoto-san was bent over, breathing heavily.

What the fuck's going on? I thought for quite possibly the thousandth time that day.

"Did we make it …?" Sakamoto-san asked amidst breaths.

Kurusu-san got his phone out. {You have returned to the real world. Welcome back} a woman's voice from the phone said.

"Huh?" said Sakamoto-san. "Returned …? Does that mean we got away …?"

"Judging by the many people around and the pretty normal-looking city, I'd say that's a safe bet," I wrote.

"You're probably right," said Kurusu-san.

"I dunno what to think anymore …" said Sakamoto-san. "What was all that, anyways …? That castle, and Kamoshida, and that weird cat! The hell's goin' on!?"

"What's with all the yelling?" asked a nearby cop. He and his partner came over. "Are you students of Shujin? Cutting classes, are we?"

"Huh? No!" said Sakamoto-san. "We were tryin' to get to school, and we ended up at this weird castle!"

Even if I could talk, I wouldn't have done anything differently to what I did then: I facepalmed. Yeah, you go, Sakamoto-san, make us sound like fucking lunatics!

The cop sighed. "… What?"

"Hand over your bag," said the other cop. "You better not be doing any drugs."

"Why would you think that!?" asked Sakamoto-san.

It's truly a mystery, I thought. One for the ages. We'd best get Inspector Morse in.

"Are you his friends?" one of the cops asked us.

"Something like that," said Kurusu-san.

I nodded.

"Then you should go to school," said the cop. "Take him with you."

"Like I'm tryin' to say …!" said Sakamoto-san. "I don't know what's goin' on, either!"

"We passed by Shujin on our way here," said the other cop. "There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. If you spout any more nonsense, I'll contact your school. Is that what you want?"

Sakamoto-san looked at Kurusu-san. "C'mon, say something'!" he urged.

"Let's get going," said Kurusu-san.

"Uh, that's not what I meant …"

Kurusu-san turned around and started walking.

"W-Wait a sec!" He looked at me. "Is that guy for real?"

I shrugged, then started walking after Kurusu-san.

"Oh, come on!" Sakamoto-san exclaimed behind me. "… Fine, I'm goin'!"

When we reached the school, I couldn't help but stop and stare. We had come the same way we had gone when we had found the castle, yet … the school was here, completely normal.

"Is this for real …?" asked Sakamoto-san. "I'm sure we came the same way … Didn't we, Ochiai?"

I nodded and wrote, "After all the shit we've been through today, Sakamoto-san, I think you can call me by my first name."

"… Okay, Hiroyasu-san … Nah, I'm not sayin' that … Yasu?" I shrugged to say "whatever." Actually, it was kind of appropriate, considering I have a family member who goes by the same nickname. "Yasu-san, then. And you can go ahead and call me Ryuji. What's goin' on here …?"

"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you," said the man in the suit who came out of the school. I recognised him – he was the school counsellor. "We received a call from the police."

"That damn cop snitched on us after all!" Ryuji-san growled.

The counsellor looked between Ryuji-san and me and hummed. "It's rare to see either of you with other people at all, let alone together. Where were you roaming around until this time?"

I shrugged. I didn't care if it annoyed him or not – it's not like he could have made me fucking speak, is it?

"Uh … a ca— a castle?" said Ryuji-san.

"So, neither of you have any intention of giving an honest answer?" said the counsellor.

"What's this about a 'castle'?" asked an unpleasant, definitely unwelcome familiar voice. Kamoshida walked out from behind the counsellor and looked down on us with that damn condescending expression of his.

"Kamoshida!?" Ryuji-san gasped.

"You seem so carefree, Sakamoto," said Kamoshida. "Quite a difference from when you did morning practice for the track team."

"Shuddup!" Ryuji-san snapped. "It's your fault that—"

"How dare you speak that way to Mr Kamoshida!" the counsellor bellowed. "… There's not much leeway left for you, you know?"

"He's the one that provoked me!"

"Do you really want to be expelled!? In any case, you'll have to explain yourself! Follow me!"

"What!? This is bullshit!"

"Come now," Kamoshida said to the counsellor. "I should have been more considerate, too. Let's just say that we were both to blame."

The counsellor looked unsure. "Well, if you say so …" He looked back at us. "Still, you're coming with me. It's undeniable that you're extremely late."

"Fine …" Ryuji-san sighed.

"By the way …" said Kamoshida, "you're that new transfer student, correct? Akira Kurusu …"

Sakamoto-san walked off with the counsellor, but not before giving Kamoshida one of the dirtiest looks imaginable. I didn't need to go with him as I didn't exactly cause a lot of trouble – I saw the counselor once a month to discuss problems I might be having thanks to my lack of speech, but I'm sure the only trouble I was causing there was trouble for him personally because he didn't want to deal with me.

"I'd have thought you'd know better than to hang around with someone like him, Ochiai," Kamoshida said to me. "At the moment, people only avoid you. Do you really think making your reputation worse by hanging around with that troublemaker is a good idea?"

Fuck you, I thought. I just shrugged.

Kamoshida turned back to Kurusu-san. "… Have we met somewhere?" he asked.

"I saw a girl in your car," said Kurusu-san.

"That's right … I remember now. … Well, I'll overlook this just for today. It's your first time being late, too, Ochiai, so I'll let you off easy." His eyes narrowed dangerously on Kurusu-san. "I'm sure you've heard from the principal, but cause any trouble and you'll be expelled. Understand?"

"I understand."

"At any rate, hurry up and go to the faculty office. I'm sure Ms Kawakami's tired of waiting." He gave Kurusu-san a wide smile. "Good luck trying to enjoy your new school life."

He went inside.

[Try not to pay attention to whatever anyone says] I signed to Kurusu-san. [If Kamoshida knows about what you did to get sent out here, he's probably already told anyone who'll listen. He likes doing that, causing trouble for people. I think it gives him a power boner or some shit because no one can do anything against him.]

"Why?" asked Kurusu-san.

[Because he's an Olympic medalist who's done more for the school sports teams in the few years he's been working here than anyone has in the school's entire history. So long as he continues to benefit the school, nobody will listen to any complaint against him. The fucker could probably get away with murder if he wanted. You want my advice, Kurusu-san?]

"Okay. And call me Akira."

[I'll do that. My advice to you, Akira-san, is simply to stay out of Kamoshida's way. I learned a while ago that it's pointless to go against him."

"… Maybe. Maybe not …"

A smile tugged at my lips. As much as I thought going up against Kamoshida was pointless, the fighting spirit Akira-san was showing was certainly something that got the spirits up.

[Come on. We should go to the faculty room.]

"You, too?"

[You're in Kawakami-sensei's class, yes?] He nodded. [Then we're in the same class. She'll want to know why I'm so late, too.]

"Okay, then. Let's go."

We walked in. The hallways were bustling with life because it was already lunchtime – we had missed the vast majority of the school day. We changed footwear at the shoe lockers at the school entrance, then took a left when we went into the hallway proper and walked forward until we were at the stairs, which we walked up. It was as we emerged at the top that I started to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"So that's him?" a girl nearby asked her friend. "That's the guy with the criminal record?"

"I think so," her friend said. "What's the 'silent spook' doing with him? Think they know each other?"

"I hope not. If they teamed up, I'd never feel safe."

I felt Akira-san glance at me for a second before we just kept on walking.

We entered the faculty office when we reached it. Kawakami-sensei didn't look particularly happy as she sat at her desk in there. She was a woman in her mid-twenties (I've always assumed, anyway) of around average height and with a slender body. Her hair was dark brown and unkempt, coming to just above her shoulders, and her eyes matched the dark brown of her hair. Her expression was somewhat long and sleepy, as it normally was, but she looked even less energised than usual. She wore a yellow long-sleeved shirt that was striped with red and white horizontal lines, a blue denim skirt that hung to below her knees, and white kitten-heel shoes.

She looked up as we walked in and sighed. "Unbelievable …" she said. "Being over half a day late on your first day …? I just assumed you were sick, Ochiai, but really? Can you two explain yourselves?"

"We were in a castle," Akira-san said like it was no big thing.

I released a long, drawn-out breath through my nose.

"You can't be serious …" said Kawakami-sensei. "Will you pull yourself together? You were given fair warning yesterday. More importantly … I heard that you two were caught along with that Sakamoto-kun?"

[Word travels fast, apparently] I signed at Akira-san.

"Indeed it does," he said.

Kawakami-sensei blinked. "You understand sign language?" she asked Akira-san.

"Yes."

"Huh … well, I guess that explains why you two are hanging out. But I really didn't expect you to be getting involved with Sakamoto-kun, Ochiai-kun. You really shouldn't, okay? He's nothing but trouble. He wasn't like that when he was devoting his time to track and field, though … Anyway. Break's almost over. Classes will end after fifth period today because of the subway accident." She looked specifically at Akira-san. "I'll have you introduce yourself when class resumes." She looked at me. "You go on ahead, I'll come in with him."

I nodded and left the faculty office.

The bell rang as I was moving through the hallway. I joined the crowd in going toward my classroom. Everyone gave me as wide a berth as they could manage, as usual. I was used to that by now.

When I got into the classroom, I took my seat, which was just one away from the window and two away from the back. I sat down, opened up my bag, and took out my sketchbook. Drawing was a little hobby of mine, though not one I'd ever shown anyone – everyone in class knew, obviously, since I was often whispered about and stared at and I normally drew when I didn't have anything else to be doing.

Without even really thinking about it, I opened up a blank page in my sketchbook and started drawing. I started doing carefully sketched outlines of a round shape with two sharp points coming off the top …

Before I could get into it, someone stood in front of my desk.

"Hey, Ochiai," said Yuuki Mishima. He was a shorter guy with spiky, blue-tinted black hair. He wore no blazer and had his shirt untucked. "You're never late, especially not this late. What's up?"

"I've had a really weird day," I wrote.

"Weird how?"

"I spent most of it thinking I've lost my mind weird."

"Huh … Well, good to see you're fine."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He walked over to his own seat.

Mishima was an all right guy, I suppose. We weren't exactly friends, but he didn't avoid or ignore me like pretty much everyone else did, which certainly set him apart. We still didn't hang out, though – our interactions were kept strictly to little chats in the classroom. The main reason was that he was one of Kamoshida's little abused puppies; he couldn't get out of practice without a guarantee of physical injury (not that different from going to practice, in my opinion, but oh well) and I generally didn't hang out with people, anyway.

The seat next to me and just beside the window was soon filled. That was Takamaki-san.

The classroom door opened and Kawakami-sensei walked in with Akira-san.

"Being super late on his first day?" one guy whispered. "He really is insane …"

"He looks normal, though …" said a girl.

"But he might slug us if we look him in the eye …" another guy said.

"Settle down," said Kawakami-sensei. Everyone shut up. I put my sketchbook back in my bag. "… Well, I'd like to introduce a transfer student: Akira Kurusu. Today, we … had him attend from the afternoon on since he wasn't feeling well. All right, please say something to the class."

"Nice to meet you," said Akira-san.

"He seems quiet … but I bet when he loses it …" said a girl.

"I mean, he was arrested for assault, right …?" said another girl.

"… Uhh, so …" said Kawakami-sensei. "Your seat will be … Hmm … Over there. The one that's open."

Wow, that must have been such a hard decision, I thought with an eye-roll.

"Sorry, but can the people nearby please share your textbooks with him for today?" asked Kawakami-sensei.

"This sucks …" a girl said.

Akira-san started walking around the desks and set himself on a course for the seat in the row behind mine that was just next to the window. I guess he's the animé protagonist of the class, I thought with a small, amused smile. As he moved to pass Takamaki-san and me, he was drawn to a stop when Takamaki-san practically hissed something under her breath.

"… Lies."

Akira-san stopped in surprised, and I turned my gaze to the left to see just what the hell was happening. Takamaki-san had never seemed a particularly happy person, but I had never heard so much aggression from her before.

"You're that girl …" said Akira-san.

Takamaki-san breathed out and looked away.

Akira-san looked at me and smiled. "Hey, Hiro-san," he said.

[Good to see she didn't rip your head off] I signed.

He chuckled. "Yeah, no kidding." Then he started walking to his seat.

"Wait, you can understand Ochiai's weird hand movements!?" some guy asked from the back of the class.

I think you'll find it's called sign language, you silly twat, I thought. But what I did was give him an introduction to the same piece of universally known sign language I had shown "King Kamoshida" earlier.

"All right, that's enough!" Kawakami-sensei said firmly. "Now, as I'm sure you all know, the volleyball rally is in two days. Everyone's just changed classes, so make sure you use that time to get to know each other. Well, then, let's get class started. Who's on duty today?"

Mishima stood up. "Everyone, please rise …"

As we all stood up, I noticed Takamaki-san eyeing me strangely. I raised my hands and held them apart in a "What?" gesture. She just shook her head and looked away.

This already weird day just kept getting weirder.

At the end of the day, I left the classroom with Akira-san. Normally, I would have gone somewhere in town to just be by myself for a little while, maybe get some drawing done, but after this bizarre day, I was just planning on walking home and spending the remaining hours of the day in my bedroom. I'd probably still draw, though.

As we left the classroom, Akira-san stopped suddenly and placed a hand on his forehead.

Kawakami-sensei came out of the classroom at this moment. "Hm?" she said. "What's wrong?"

"Is this … a castle?" Akira-san asked.

Kawakami-sensei sighed. "Are you sure you're okay? Also … it seems like people are already talking about you, but I'm not the one who told them. I can't even catch a break … Why do I have to deal with this?" She looked back at Akira-san. "You should head straight home without stopping by anywhere. Sakura-san sounded pretty angry. Oh, and about Sakamoto-kun. Don't get involved—"

Speak of the Devil, I thought as Ryuji-san approached.

"Speak of the Devil …" Kawakami-sensei said at the same time.

Ha!

"What do you want?" Kawakami-sensei asked Ryuji-san. "I heard the police caught you cutting classes today."

Ryuji-san groaned. "It was nothin'," he said.

"And you haven't dyed your hair back to black, either …"

"Sorry 'bout that." He didn't sound like he cared at all. He moved closer to Akira-san and me. "I'll be waitin' on the rooftop," he whispered. Then he walked away.

Kawakami-sensei sighed again. "See? That's why I don't want you getting involved. Understood?"

Then she walked up.

Then, as if God himself decided he wanted to fuck with us that day, Kamoshida and the principal came up the stairs beside us together.

"Why did you allow a student like him to transfer here?" Kamoshida asked the principal. "He's already started associating with Sakamoto and Ochiai. A student with a criminal record, and the culprit of an assault case."

Excuse me, Mr Pot, Mr Kettle called and said you're black.

"At this rate," Kamoshida continued, "it'd be pointless how much I contribute to the school."

"Now, don't be like that …" said our fat bald bastard of a principal. "This school counts on you, Kamoshida-kun. You are our star. Still, a steady build-up is necessary behind such brilliance as well."

"Your troubles never seem to end, do they, Principal Kobayakawa? All right, I understand. I'll continue to do my best to answer your expectations of me."

The two of them walked away.

[And there go the two biggest douchebags I've ever met] I signed to Akira-san. [So, you been seeing that castle?]

"Just a flash of it, yeah," said Akira-san. "It gave me a headache. Sakamoto seemed like he was eager to talk about something. You mind leading the way to the roof?"

[Okay.]

Despite the fact that the roof was meant to be off-limits, I went up there often. Pretty much every lunchtime, in fact, or else I would head up there if I ever wanted to cut class (normally PE).

"… There you guys are," said Ryuji-san when we arrived. "Sorry for callin' you up here like this. I bet Kawakami already told you stuff like 'Don't get involved with him,' huh?"

"Who'd you know?" asked Akira-san.

"Figured as much. Then again, we're all in the same boat, more or less. I heard you got a criminal record. Everyone's talkin' about it. No wonder you were so gutsy." He paused. "… What was all that that happened? You know, how we almost got killed at a castle … It wasn't a dream … right? You guys remember it, too, yeah?"

I nodded.

"Yeah," said Akira-san.

"Well, just 'cause we all remember it doesn't mean much, though …" said Ryuji-san. "I mean, even if it was a dream, you saved me from Kamoshida. So yeah … Thanks, Akira."

"You're welcome," said Akira-san.

"But man, that Kamoshida we saw there … You prolly don't know about it, but there are some rumours about him."

"Hiro-san told me a thing or two earlier."

"He tell you why nobody does shit against him?" Akira-san nodded in response. "Well, it's true – the shithead took the volleyball team to the nationals, so now he's the pride of the school or some shit. The way Kamoshida was king of that castle felt crazy real 'cause of that … I wonder if we can go back to that castle again … Ugh, forget it. Must've all been a dream! It has to be!"

"I dunno. That little scrape on my ankle feels pretty fucking real," I wrote.

"Then you just slipped or something, I dunno!" said Ryuji-san. "Sorry to drag you two out here like this. That's all I had to say. You know, we might actually be pretty similar. I feel like we're gonna get along just fine as 'troublemakers.' I'm Sakamoto Ryuji. Though of course, Yasu-san already knew that. I'll come talk if I see you guys around. Don't ignore me, all right?"

I smiled at him.

"See ya," he said before walking off.

I decided that I liked Ryuji-san.

"Well, I guess we should head home for the day," said Akira-san. "I don't want Sakura-san to kick me out on my ass."

[You want to walk with me?] I asked. [The train station is about halfway to my place, so I can stick with you that far.]

"Sure. Thanks."

We left school together.

True to what I'd thought about doing earlier, I went straight home. I took my bag off, hung it up in the cupboard, and went upstairs, where I undressed, put on my pyjamas, and lay on my bed.

I had my sketchbook with me.

The excitement of the day stayed with me well into the night. I had been drawing for hours by the time I actually got tired enough to sleep.

And even then, my dreams were filled with nightmares of that castle …

FUCKING-A! I did it! I've been working on this for a few days now, very nearly thought I'd never get it done, but I've finished the first chapter!

There's not really much I can think to say down here, I'm afraid, so this'll be a short AN. There is the fact that I've put some effort into the Japanese side of things this time around, but I'm trying to edit up Supernatural Serial Killers ... Why Not? to be more accurate in that regard, too.

Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you next time.